The Eyes in the Dark
by tiny-phoenix
Summary: A beast has been on a crash course of destruction for every Horde encampment in the Barrens, and Captain Martyll Dragoneye is determined to put a stop to it. But when he finally catches the "beast", he's in for a bigger surprise than he thought.
1. Chapter 1

"Worm-eye! Ya be seein' anyting?"

Martyll Dragoneye shut his eyes tightly as if he suddenly had a headache and took a deep breath to calm himself. It did not work apparently, because he leaned over the side of the rickety watchtower and yelled down at the troll, "I've told you a thousand times, you blithering sand-whelp, not that you can count, of course! It's _Captain_ _Dragoneye_! _Captain_! You will refer to me with my proper name and title or you will get thrown to whatever hungry beasts are wandering this Light-forsaken hell."

The tall, lanky troll, Gubcha, rolled his own eyes and made a mock bow. "Alrighty den, _Captain_, ya see anyting? Some of us be hungry and we not gonna be standin' 'ere waitin' for you ta be done witcha sightseein'."

"I am _not_ sightseeing, you idiot!"

The other trolls behind Gubcha began to grumble and some of them wandered off in search of food and more interesting endeavors. _They lose interest in things like children and imbeciles, unless they're looking for something shiny_, thought the captain. "You will wait until I tell you that you can do otherwise," he said, turning his back on the trolls. He scanned the twilit landscape again, actually squinting, despite his extraordinary eyesight. He did not want to miss a thing. _No, Martyll, you dolt. The beast won't strike, even if there's a little bit of light. It likes the dark._ "So I wait," he muttered.

"Captain!"

Captain Dragoneye shuddered in anger as he spun around again and leaned down, expecting to have to face Gubcha's ugly, disgruntled face again. Instead he found the faces of Ranger-Lord Dargal Sunstep and Lieutenant Lith Starsword looking up at him. The Ranger-Lord had an amused look on his smooth, pale face and his bright golden eyes were narrowed in a smirk. He was the oldest elf that Dragoneye had ever met, but a person would never be able to tell. Elves aged gracefully enough, though the Ranger-Lord had seen his fair share of years. His hair, the same color as his eyes, was braided ornately behind him.

Next to him, Lieutenant Starsword blinked up at Dragoneye with large, bright green eyes. The lieutenant seemed harmless enough to Martyll, but with a weapon, she was vicious. She has silver hair that fell just past her waist when it was loose, but at that time it was braided to her right side.

"Martyll, what in Light's name are you doing up there! Come down, the whole camp's about to have their supper!"

The captain groaned, though not loud enough for Sunstep to hear. He had never seen the Ranger-Lord angry, but he did not wish to find out about it. "With all due respect, sir," he answered, as respectfully as he could muster, "we have to keep watch for the beast."

Sunstep roared out in laughter and nudged Starsword with his elbow, nearly knocking the unaware elf right off of her feet. "Do you hear this, Lith? The beast, he says! Leave the beast, Martyll! It attacked at _Hunter's Hill_. That well enough away from here, and across the rift to match! Even if the damned thing is coming here, there's no way it'll make it tonight. Come down here, relax."

Starsword sighed softly and said quietly, "S-sir, maybe it _is_ best to keep watch.. We don't know how fast the beast can move.."

She was cut off mid-sentence by another roar of laughter. "Hear that, Martyll? Lith here will stand watch _with_ you!" Martyll groaned again as he saw Lith turn a furious pink in the dim light.

"I would prefer to stay up here, sir. I was at Desolation Hold. I know what this beast is capable of. You will not see it until it is too late. If we can get even the smallest bit of warning, we can be better prepared than the Hold was." He shuddered again as he remembered the screams and shouts of panic. Was there only one incredibly fast beast? Or many, descending on their attack point all at once? No one knew because no one had seen anything. There had only been shadows, moving so swiftly that it was impossible to pinpoint them.

Now the Ranger-Lord frowned. "Now, Martyll, I'll hear none of that. Enough with your morbid stories. Surely it was just a loose wolf or a lion or such, if there even _was_ a 'beast' at all. You know how oddly these animals act, especially lately. Come down here and enjoy your supper, don't make me order you."

The twilight was gone, replaced by the inky darkness of night. It was incredibly cold at night in the Barrens, with nothing to buffer the wind except a few sad, thin trees and perhaps the odd hill or two. Captain Dragoneye took one last look to the east of the Crossroads, and then to the west. From what he could see, everything was calm. Half sighing and half seething, he swung himself over the side of the watchtower and dropped down, landing directly in front of the Ranger-Lord. "Very well, sir, dinner it is."

As the three of them walked back to the large tent that housed their eating quarters, Dragoneye's ear twitched as he thought he heard the sound of a quick, strangled squeak. As he looked towards the West gate, he saw one of the guards drop, seemingly without reason, but then the torch he had been holding was immediately snuffed out. Before Martyll Dragoneye even had time to open his mouth and sound an alarm, the shadows were darting about again and his nightmare was unfolding once again.


	2. Chapter 2

Martyll ducked under a piece of timber that had fallen away from the small hold in the middle of the Crossroads and didn't even look back to see if anyone had gotten caught underneath it. _High ground, high ground, high ground_, was the constant mantra that he was reciting in his head, as his eyes swiveled this way and that way, looking for something to climb up on. He needed to get a better view of what was going on. On the ground, there were too many things in the way. Too many trolls swinging dulled, poorly made blades at shadows that they would never hit, too many rangers standing in indecision about whether or not to release that bowstring. Would they catch a beast? Or would they catch an equally indecisive ranger? It was far too dangerous to shoot at something you could barely see in such utter chaos. In the midst of it all, Martyll caught a glimpse of Lith Starsword, pressed close to the ground, watching the feet of everyone who went past her. _Watching for paws,_ he thought. _Smart girl_.

Frustrated, Martyll spun around and looked up at the hold. The outside was all smooth except for some wood which was falling off of the roofing, and that was too far up to-

"There!" he said out loud, as he spied a large piece of timber that had fallen diagonally against the wall of the keep, providing a steep but doable climb up to just below the roof of the keep. He moved swiftly through the screeching, swishing crowd. He dodged a troll blade there, narrowly dodged an arrow _there_, and stepped deftly over a troll whose throat has been slashed open. Whether it was by claws or by a fellow troll blade, Martyll could not say. He did not linger long enough to examine it.

Just as he was about to get a running start and hop his way up to the roof, Martyll turned his head and saw a shadow staying completely still, right in the middle of the crowd. One by one, all of the torches in the Crossroads were being snuffed out, by people dropping them in the sand in a panic, by people running past and blowing out the flames as they did. It was getting darker, and dawn was a long, long way off. Even in the dim light, though, Martyll could make out this shadow. At first he took it for another fallen troll, although he soon realized that it was not lying askew as the others were, but rather _crouching_. He nocked an arrow and aimed carefully, although no shot was very careful with this many people dashing past. The shadow opened its eyes, and bright, eerie blue eyes blinked at Martyll once before the shadow was gone, and its spot was empty.

Cursing his luck, Martyll stored his bow on his back and dashed up the precariously placed piece of timber, leaping upwards at the end so that he just barely grabbed the edge of the roof, pulling himself up. It was even darker down below now, with more torches gone out and the moon hiding behind heavy clouds. As Martyll scanned the scene below, searching once more for the blue-eyed figure, he saw a small orc child screaming and crying as it wandered through the crowd. _Have the savages not thought to put the children in a safe place?_ He hated this place. Commanding the trolls was like herding feral cats, the orcs thought it a joke to take orders from the "delicate" elf, and the goblins didn't even clearly respond, they just cackled whenever he happened past them.

Thankfully, Lith swooped in at that moment and snatched the child up by the collar of his ragged tunic, darting towards the entrance of the keep below. Martyll returned to his search, scanning every rooftop and every space of empty ground. It was getting darker still. He would have to take a shot soon, or else he wouldn't be able to _see_ anything to shoot at. Just as he was about to give up his search and give in to the frustration that was telling him to just start shooting blindly, he saw it.

It was running on four legs and even as Martyll watched, it cut out the legs from under a swinging troll, without even stopping or slowing down. A second troll looked down to see what had become of his comrade, and Martyll recognize Gubcha by the ridiculously stupid blue hair on the troll's head. The creature spun around to strike him down, too, and the captain could not help but roll his eyes. _I'm going to regret saving this stupid troll_, he thought, just before he loosed the arrow that took the creature right in the side, toppling it over. It lay in the sand, trying to get back in its feet and Gubcha walked away with his wounded brother, completely unaware of what had just happened.

Martyll hopped down and slid back to the ground, running over to where a small crowd was beginning to form around the fallen creature. The panic was subsiding somewhat, but there were still many shouts and curses flying through the frigid night air. As Martyll shoved his way to the front of the crowd, he caught a few whispers.

"What's this supposed to mean?"

"It's a joke, I'm sure.."

"Da elves be tryin' ta mess wit us! Tryin' ta make all da rest of us look crazy!"

He even passed another goblin cackling to himself as he peeked through the legs of those who were blocking his view.

But when Martyll finally got to the front of the crowd, he was not prepared for what he found lying in the dirt with an arrow wedged in its side.

It was a small human girl, her dark black hair tousled and matted to her sweating face. She has tanned skin, the color of the sand that she was laying in. He spun around on one heel and faced the crowd, his fury growing. "What game is this?" he shouted, so that even the panicked cries quieted down a little. "What joke do you sand-people presume to play with me?"

All was silent.

"Where is the beast!"

An orc standing near the front spoke up, snorting contempt for Martyll. "We could ask you the same thing, long-ears."

"It was a wolf, I saw it with my own eyes! I shot it with an arrow from my own quiver! _Now where is it_!"

He spun around again and looked down at the little human. She was perhaps nineteen or twenty in human years, not quite a child but not quite an adult. Her chest was heaving quickly and it looked like every breath was becoming more difficult for her to draw. Her eyes were shut tightly.

"Is it alive?" someone called from the back of the crowd.

_Not for long_, thought Martyll, as he watched her breathing become more and more labored. He was about to turn away and let the pitiful thing die in the sand, or let the trolls slash at her or whatnot, but just before he turned his head away from the sight of her, both of her eyes flew open.

They were a bright blue color. A bright, eerie, blue.


	3. Chapter 3

"The reports are coming in, Martyll. It's like nothing I've ever heard before! Some say that it was a bear, others say a wildcat, a small camp by the shore said that all they saw was a _seal's_ head emerging from the water, and then everything went to hell! Look! Look here! _A bird?_ 'A great, dark bird descended from the sky and flew so quickly through the camp that not even our best archers could even nick the beast. It flew through, slashing and plucking a bloody path through the soldiers'! There _must_ be more than one. Or there is only one and these damned fools can't even identify what animal attacked!" Ranger-Lord Sunstep continued his half-drunken rant, tossing letters and reports every which way. In the corner of the torchlit room, Lith quietly read reports, marking potentially important parts. Martyll shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He had been standing there for far too long. He turned his hearing back to Sunstep.

"And this girl! What in the name of the Light is a _human_ girl doing here? Where'd she come from! I know she didn't just drop out of the sky, unless she's some mystical dragon in disguise! And- And.. And why the hell did you shoot _her_, Martyll? We were looking for a damned beast, and you shoot at human girls instead!"

Captain Dragoneye subtly rolled his eyes when Sunstep turned away, no doubt to pick up more fluttering papers and toss them about in the already cluttered room. He had heard this no less than five times in the past three days since the beast had attacked and the human girl had mysteriously appeared.

"Oh, _thank you_, Captain! Thank you for shooting that menacing little girl for us!"

"'Ey, Worm-eye! We just wanna be thankin' ya fer catchin' a monster fer us!"

Martyll had heard it all. And still, those Light-forsaken goblins were still cackling. He was beginning to doubt that they were even cackling at him at all. Recently he had just been thinking that they cackled at absolutely _everything_.

He was shaken out of his tiny reverie by Sunstep's slightly quavering, wine-soaked voice. "_Did you even hear what I said_?" he screeched at Martyll. For a moment, all he could do was stare dumbly back at the Ranger-Lord, but then he gathered his wits.

"Yes, sir, of course I did."

Thankfully, Lith stepped forward, setting down the report she was currently reading. "And I'll go with Captain Dragoneye to interrogate the girl. Of course I can't speak the human tongue, but just to make sure that she doesn't try anything funny."

This appeased Sunstep only a tiny bit. "Oh, yes, because if she should try to escape, Martyll might just start shooting cell rats instead of the girl." With a dismissive wave of his hand, he spun around and surveyed the mess of paper that he had made around the room, grumbling to himself.

Martyll moved swiftly from the room, so that Lith had to run a little to catch up with him. He didn't even acknowledge her. He was so entranced in his own thoughts and his own confusions that he didn't even realized that she was walking next to him until she piped up. "It wasn't your fault. It was dark out there, anyone could have made that mistake.."

He looked down at her with a slight look of shock, wondering where her voice had even come from. Then his face hardened somewhat. "I have no need of your sympathy, Lieutenant Starsword."

She immediately quieted down. Martyll had pulled rank, had asserted that _he_ was the captain, and _she_ was the lieutenant. And he would not be taking sympathy and reassurance from a _lieutenant_. They walked in silence after that, down the winding steps, until they were face-to-face with two trolls who were guarding the door that lead to the cells. "Step aside," said Martyll. "The Ranger-Lord would have us speak with the girl."

The two trolls exchanged amused looks with each other and then stepped aside from the door, chuckling. "Careful, little elf, he might be shootin' ya next. Since he already got tha girl, I mean.."

Martyll ignored them and walked into the hall of cells, spinning around to face Lith. "You may go now. I have no need for a babysitter. I assure you, the girl will not be getting away." He did not wait for an answer, spinning around again to walk down the dim row. He heard Lith hesitate for a moment before turning on her heel and walking out of the room.

All of the cells were empty, except for one. All the way down at the end of the dungeon room, on the right side, the little human girl was sitting on her rickety-looking bed, facing the bars as if she had been expecting Martyll. He looked down at her through the bars, and she looked up at him with those eyes, those icy eyes. He could see them more clearly now. They had little flecks of gold in them.

"What's your name?" he asked, in perfect Common.

She remained silent.

"Yes, I had heard that you refused to speak to anyone. Not that many people here can speak your language, that is."

She still said nothing, but there was a slight look of amusement in her strange eyes. It infuriated Martyll.

"Answer me. What is your name?" The tiniest hint of a smile appeared on her tanned face, invoking a spike of fury in Martyll. "Either you answer me or I'll have you beaten!"

One of the trolls who had been guarding the door turned back and shouted at him, "She don't speak, mon! Not for no one, not for nothin'! Not for food, not fer water! No pleadin', no questions, nothin'. She jus' sit dere."

Martyll ignored the troll and set his attention on the girl. He examined her, and his eyes fell to her side, where she had been bandaged after the arrow had been taken out. The Ranger-Lord had wanted her alive, to question her. She has been bandaged up and stuck in this cell, but-

"Where are your bandages?" The girl was wearing the same thing that she had been discovered in, a tight black tunic and pants. There was a hole in the tunic from where the arrow had pierced, and the bloodstains were visible, but the bandages were gone, and the girl's skin looked smooth and as if nothing had pierced it in the first place. She raised a hand and pointed to the corner. The bandages lay there in a crumpled heap, shredded to ribbons.

_How did she do that?_ Martyll asked himself. The girl had no weapons, he was sure of that, but those bandages had definitely been shredded by sharp, not just her hands. He bent down and began to reach in through the bars, to retrieve the bandages and examine them closely. But then the girl spoke up, and Martyll nearly jumped for how surprised he was. Her voice pierced the silence, the crackling of the torch on the wall. "I wouldn't touch that if I were you. I don't particularly like people invading my personal space and as far as I'm concerned, this cell is now my space."

He straightened back up and stared at the girl. Her voice was smooth, girlish, musical. It sounded so innocent, like a child or a young maiden's speech. But there was something else, too. She had the strangest accent that Martyll had ever heard before. No human had ever spoken like that. She was definitely not of Stormwind, not even those from Lordaeron had an accent such as hers.

"So she speaks," said Martyll.

"So she speaks," the girl repeated. "But do tell me, what is _your_ name? Then perhaps I'll share mine."

He was silent for a moment, but he finally said, "Captain Martyll Dragoneye."

"Dragoneye? And why do they call you that?"

"It is a name that I earned. I have extraordinary eyesight and I'm an accomplished archer."

"Oh? Is that how you shot me? Well, I congratulate you, Captain, but I'm sure you're not the first to shoot a girl."

Martyll's fists clenched unintentionally and he bent down to snatch away the bandages again. He was done speaking with this insolent little wench. As he reached his hand through the bars, everything seemed to move at once. Faster than a lightning strike, a wide cut was blooming on Martyll's hand but when he looked back up, the girl was sitting on her bed, looking as amused as ever. On her fingertips and under her nails were spots of blood. He snatched his hand back out of the bars and looked down at it. Wiping some of the blood on his dark pants, he could see that on his hand were not scratches made by just fingernails. They were claw marks.

He looked back up to the girl.

"I told you, Captain Dragoneye. I don't like when people invade my personal space."

Martyll walked briskly away from her cell and as he passed the two trolls again, he said, "She doesn't eat tonight. Or tomorrow."


	4. Chapter 4

"Sir, I'm warning you, this is completely futile. The wretched little thing doesn't speak to anyone," Martyll said, for the millionth time this afternoon. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Lith shifting her weight around _yet again_ as she rolled her eyes and sighed. _This is so useless. We've been here for hours and he's still insisting on speaking with the girl himself! He can't even speak Common. Not like the little wench would speak to him anyway_. He growled softly to himself as a slight throb of pain went through his bandaged hand. Those claw marks were tough to heal. The Ranger-Lord spun on his heel and regarded Martyll with fiery, half-drunk eyes.

"No, Martyll! I wish to speak to the girl. She'll recognize power when she sees it, and there is none more powerful than me! She will speak to me, and we'll get some answers out of the delicate little thing. You probably spooked her, is all. She is only a small human girl, after all."

Before he could go any deeper into his tirade, Lith stepped forward and motioned towards the nearest window, where the pinkish and orange glow of the sky could be seen. The sun was setting. "If you are going to speak to her, please allow us to bring her now. I do not think it is wise to have her out after dark."

"'Out after dark'! What are you, her mother! She's in _chains_, and a _human_! What could she possibly do?"

"Sir," Lith began, "there have been no more of those mysterious beast attacks since the girl was captured. Surely this means that she has something to do with it. It's simply too much of a coincidence."

The Ranger-Lord stopped his ranting and then turned his lidded eyes towards Lith. He gave her such a look that Martyll was disgusted and wished that he could walk right up the short steps and kick the elf right off his feet. He looked at Lith and while she was trying very hard to hide it, he could see the same look of contempt in her own eyes. Sunstep nodded eventually and said in a low voice, "You're a very clever one, Lieutenant Starsword. Very well then, Martyll, go retrieve the girl and bring her here." He smirked. "We'll be waiting here," he added, and Martyll had no doubt that Sunstep was feeling a lot more suave than he was looking.

Captain Dragoneye walked to the door, herding Lith along with him. "Lieutenant Starsword will come with me and ensure that the girl does not escape, sir. It is getting dark, after all."

Before the Ranger-Lord could protest, the two were already out the door and walking down the long, winding stairs towards the dungeons. Lith did not speak and Martyll looked over at her a couple of times to make sure that she was alright. She looked fine, straight-faced and stoic. She was very pretty, Martyll thought. Even with the swords. Perhaps _especially_ with the swords. He could see why the Ranger-Lord was panting over her. Suddenly Martyll remembered what he had said to her the other day, when he had wanted to get rid of her in the dungeons and he felt a small twang of guilt. "Lith.. About the other day, when I was going to speak to the human girl-"

"I understand. You felt like you were being babysat. It's fine," she said curtly.

Martyll blinked a couple of times, taken a bit aback by how quickly she had caught onto what he was thinking. "Oh- Well, yes, but I probably shouldn't have said those things to you."

"It was fine," she repeated. "You didn't say anything that you didn't have a right to. You have the rank, you used it. People do it all the time."

He just nodded, absolutely dumbstruck. This elf was _definitely_ more than she seemed. It was like she had just read Martyll's mind. She was very clever and very quick. Martyll had seen what she could do with a weapon, too, and it was devastating. He would do well not to disregard her. By this time, they had reached the dungeons. Lith waited outside the outer door while Martyll strode down the row of cells, finally arriving at the girl's.

He gritted his teeth in anger and he could feel his mouth twisting into a dissatisfied scowl as he surveyed the girl's health. She looked perfectly healthy and alert, although Martyll had instructed the trolls on guard to be very skimpy with her meals and water. _Have they disobeyed me?_ Martyll asked himself. No, they couldn't have. In the corner of the girl's cell was a small, half-empty cup of water and next to it was an even smaller cup, with drooping vegetables in it. _The girl should be gaunt by now! A skeleton! And yet she looks as healthy as ever!_

Martyll apparently did not hide his anger very well, because the girl rose from her flimsy cot and made a stiff salute. "Captain Dragoneye," she said in her musical, fluid voice. Martyll had come to hate that voice with all of his being. It was a mocking voice, although it sounded beautiful and foreign. "Have you come to release me? Or ask me some more futile questions?"

"The Ranger-Lord wants to see you," he growled at her, taking the chains off of the wall that would bind her hands together. He unlocked the door to her cell and stepped in quickly, taking a firm hold of the girl's hands before she could pull another dangerous parlor trick that opened up the _other_ hand in a bloody mess. Martyll nearly flinched when he touched her skin. She was fiery hot and it almost hurt his hands to be touching her. _What_ is_ she?_ he asked himself.

After the girl was secured in chains, Martyll moved her out of the dungeon room, where Lith was waiting, alert. "Did everything go alright?" she asked, her eyes examining the girl. Martyll nodded, but he saw a huge, dangerous grin spread right over the human's face.

"Oh, Captain Dragoneye, you failed to mention that you had a _mate_!"

Lith blinked at the human girl. "She's so.. small," she said in surprise. "What did she say?"

Martyll twisted at the chains holding the girl's hands and hoped to the Light with all of his might that it at least caused her a bit of discomfort. "Nothing," he answered, so that the girl could not understand him. "She babbles." It was an arduous task to get the girl up all of those flights of stairs with her being chained up as she was, but Martyll was willing to take the time for it and _not_ willing to take any risks. Before too long, they stood back in Sunstep's chambers and Martyll held the girl before him.

The Ranger-Lord stared for a few seconds and then let out a loud guffaw, nearly doubling over from his laughter. "This is it!" he exclaimed, loud enough that Martyll could have sworn that the walls of the flimsy keep shook. "This is what has been driving me to drink for the past days! This little bitch!" He descended the few steps from his table and walked (or stumbled) right up to the girl.

She wrinkled her nose and looked back at Martyll. "Tell him to take a few steps back, if he would please? His breath is enough to rouse the dead from their slumber."

Sunstep's eyes flew to Martyll. "What did she say?"

"She said she is awed to be in the presence of someone so powerful, sir."

He laughed again. "As she should be! At least the little creature knows enough to recognize true power when she sees it!" He placed a finger under the girl's chin and tilted it upwards. Martyll winced and his bandaged hand throbbed. "I haven't had much experience with these humans.. But for being part of such a weak, short-lived race, this one is very pretty. Unique eyes. Tell her I said that."

Martyll relayed the message and the girl smirked. "Oh, well tell him thank you ever so much. But I'm afraid he won't think me pretty for much longer." Martyll's eyes widened and for a moment, he forgot about relaying anything to the Ranger-Lord.

"What? Why?"

As he let out the last word, the girl's mouth opened wide and to the horror of every elf, troll, and goblin guarding the room, her mouth was filled not with normal human teeth, but with sharp, jagged fangs. The girl whipped her head down and with a sickening, eerie crunch, she took off Ranger-Lord Sunstep's outstretched finger. The elf stared at his quickly-bloodied hand for a moment and in that time, the finger fell to the floor and Martyll wrenched back on the chains, pulling the girl closer. She grinned, the sight of her perfectly human teeth sending a horrible, freezing chill down Martyll's spine. As he gaped in shock at the seemingly satisfied girl, he heard the screeches begin.

"KILL HER! KILL HER _NOW_!" Sunstep took a few jumbled steps towards the girl and Martyll, his maimed hand reaching to his side for his sword. When he found himself unable to draw the weapon due to his now-missing finger, he roared even louder and took a swing with his good hand. "KILL HER!"

Martyll tugged back on the chains again, whisking the girl just out of Sunstep's reach. The guards at the doors were beginning to move towards her as well, but Lith yelled out, "No! You go back to your posts!" _She's right, _thought Maryll,_ we can't let her be killed. Sunstep will be even more enraged at that later on_. The Ranger-Lord in question was still shambling and swinging wildly at the prisoner, blood spattering on the pale cobblestoned tiles of the floor and the rage growing in his face.

Everytime the old elf missed a fury-blind blow at the girl, her smile got a little wider. Finally, she burst into laughter, a high and innocent sound that made Lith stop right in her tracks, a stunned and horrified look on her face. Sunstep continued swinging and Martyll pulled the girl out of the way each time until they were nearly up against the wall. There was nowhere else to pull her to, unless Martyll shoved Sunstep backwards. Although Martyll was not willing to do harm to the Ranger-Lord for the sake of this girl, it seems that the older elf did not share the same respect, whether it was out of his blind fury, or his blatant disregard for the lives of his subordinates.

He took one last, clumsy swing at the girl and Martyll did the only thing left to do, which was to stuff the human in the space between him and wall and hope that Sunstep's blow was so drastically off point that he would merely hit the wall. Unfortunately, this one swing looked to be sure and powered by the Ranger-Lord's fury. Right as the blow was about to connect with the upper part of Martyll's chest, he felt the weight of the girl disappear and heard the loud clinking of metal upon metal. He looked down and much to his surprise, the human girl stood in front of him, Sunstep's sword tangled in the chains of her shackles. There was a long moment of silence in which no one, not even Sunstep, moved or made a noise. All eyes were trained on the little human, her icy eyes narrowed and glaring. She was the first to make a move, jerking her hands to the side and releasing the sword, wrenching it out of Sunstep's grip and sending him sprawling to the floor. He did not make an effort to get up but rather sat there, his mouth slightly agape and his half-lidded eyes struggling to keep on their target.

It was only when the girl straightened up and Lith rushed to Sunstep's side to keep the sword out of his grasp that Martyll realized that there was an even larger problem to be dealt with than a furious, drunken Ranger-Lord.

Sunstep's sword had hit the chains with such force that they had cracked the shackles. When the girl stood up straight, the metal bindings that were keeping her somewhat subdued merely fell off of her and she flexed her hands into a fist. Martyll's heart sank.

This girl – whether she be demon, shapeshifter, or otherwise – was dangerous, and incredibly so. And she was now free, flexing her hands, and even as Martyll reached for the sword at his side, he could see the delicate female fingers transforming into the long, wickedly sharp claws.


End file.
